Title: On the Hunt

This badger’s den was only a few feet off of a secondary road in Yellowstone National Park, allowing a small group of photographers an extraordinary opportunity to document this family’s habits. There were many wonderful observations, but the best had to be her hunting ability. Over the span of 15 hours, this female (sow) badger caught at least 14 ground squirrels for her two cubs, who didn’t look like they were going hungry in the first place. But most incredibly, the sow would only go hunting within one minute of one particular photographer returning from a food or washroom run (it was uncanny) and would always choose a route directly beside where Jill was standing (equally uncanny). This shot was taken on one of her first hunting forays, as the sow determined that her favourite photographer was present (check) and that she could choose a hunting route where Jill would be in the way (check).